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Research professor dedicated to helping fight HIV/AIDS in Africa

One of our professors, Dr. Kevin Mallinson, was featured in the article “A Few Good Men at the College” in the summer 2011 issue of our Nursing Excellence magazine. Find out more about his work in Africa.

While HIV/AIDS no longer means a death sentence in the developed world, it still continues to be a leading cause of death in southern Africa. That’s why Dr. Kevin Mallinson, research professor, has dedicated his efforts to where they are needed the most.

Dr. Mallinson has been involved in many nursing capacity building initiatives in Africa. He has worked with clinicians, community organizations and ministries of health to dispel commonly held myths about HIV/AIDS, and provide basic education on how to prevent disease transmission, care for those infected, encourage medication adherence, and manage loss and grief.

Dr. Mallinson has successfully received federal grant funding for his efforts, including one from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for Nurses SOAR! (Strengthening Our AIDS Response), a nursing capacity building program that deployed U.S. nurses to Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland to serve as mentors to local nurses.

He has contributed his expertise and conducted workshops for the Wellness Centres for Health Care Workers in Swaziland and Lesotho, established by the International Council of Nurses. The Wellness Centres are clinics that provide health care services and social support to the people who can make a difference in their own communities – the nurses and physicians who are living with HIV infection.

Dr. Mallinson has worked internationally for nearly two decades. His past efforts include disease education for health care professionals in Rio de Janeiro through the Johns Hopkins AIDS Service, and assisting the Tanzanian government and nursing officials to put basic HIV/AIDS content into the country’s standardized nursing school curricula.

Now as research professor at Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College, Dr. Mallinson’s goal is to establish long-term research funding for a program that would bring Barnes-Jewish College students specifically to the Kingdom of Swaziland. The country has the highest HIV rates in the world; one third of all Swazi adults have HIV infection.

Throughout the years, Dr. Mallinson has developed long-term relationships with communities, clinics and schools in Swaziland, and has seen their struggles to cope with the disease. “The resilience that they have is just amazing,” he says.

The goal of his life’s work is twofold. “I want to do something sustainable that would improve the lives of people,” he says. “I also want to instill in students to give back to the world as they progress in their nursing careers.”